Forest School Rules
1)Keep Community At the Heart & Be Safe 🌈
The golden rule is to always keep community in your heart. We want this to be a welcoming and lovingspace for kids and adults. Try to act loving and kind to all. Try to treat all kids with respect and love so they feel safe in their group. We do not discriminate based on race, sexual orientation, gender identity or
expression, neurology, abilities, beliefs, or anything of the sort. We are inclusive and a safe place!
3)Buddy System Always 🐺
When the kids leave the core group for any reason without an adult they need to use the buddy(s) system. Walkie Talkies can be helpful to make sure we can communicate with the groups that are out. Some
of our older kids like to get a group together to go for hikes, we set up bounds they need to stay in but be sure to see rule number 6 and discuss your kids bounds with them.
5)Problem Solving is Done To Seek Solutions First 🌻
We ask that you begin by solving small problems peacefully one on one for most simple situations. We find that in most cases going to a person to seek solutions works wonders. If you need help, feel this situation is something that needs to be disclosed, or things beyond what you can do (a bigger problem then this approach is appropriate for) please always know our leadership team is here to help! You can also reach out to Bethy Young or another leadership team member (anyone marked under the leadership role on discord) through messenger or In person. A good tip is during coop the leadership team members who are open to helping with things such as this for each coop day will be wearing a yellow snail and mushroom badge.
2)We Are Not Set Up For Kids To Be Dropped Off 🐾
Kids can't come without an adult. If your kid needs to come with another family that is ok as long as that adult is good with being that kids adult for the day. Also we understand life happens & you may have to sit in the car to care for a need or may go off on hike with other kids /adults and that is fine . Please make sure your kid is ready to be safe when not in your eye site, knows where you are, another adult knows your number/where you are & can be a trusted person for your kid if they need .
4)Problem Solving Is Done Face to Face (or in message) 🌸
To go with building community we ask that any one on one issues are dealt with off the Facebook or Discord group. We are not trying to keep secrets or anything of that sort but we want to build the community up and come up with true solutions. In our experience the public Facebook/Discord setting is just not conducive to that. Face to face is usually best, although messaging someone can also work.
6)Keep Our Nature Home Clean 🌲
We all pitch in on cleaning up after ourselves and keeping our nature home beautiful, clean, and safe for the animals that call it home. Clean up after yourself an and leave our nature home looking nice
7)Discuss Your Family's Rules With Your Kids 🍀
It is each families responsibility to make judgment calls and rules for their kids if they fall outside of typical Forest School rules. We are set up for risk and messy play so it is a good idea to go ahead and discuss your own child's rules for things like hiking, whittling, mud play, tree climbing, etc...
Many kids do rough house and have games they play that take a rough turn. Most of us allow it if all parties who are playing are ok with it. But we need to use common sense and make sure these games are done in fun (not mean spirited) type of way and everyone playing wishes to take part. Mainly this just means everyone helping the kids watch the intensity level and be mindful of their actions and friends around them. Consent in this kind of play is a must.
8)Some Reminders For Rough Play 🐍
9)Some reminders for LARPing and Nerf Gun Battles💧
10)Avoid Peanuts 🍁
Peanuts are a big risk for airborn allergies and for this reason any activity we do that could involve peanut butter or peanuts (like bird feeders) will be done with a non peanut alternative. If you have a kid with an airborn peanut allergy please reach out to let us know so we can let the group know we need to be more careful for snacks and such we all bring to.
To go along with the above rule on rough housing many of the kids love to play nerf guns or LARP (live action role play ) in the woods. We ask that any "play weapons" they bring are obviously fake (nerf guns looking obviously nerf gun like /orange tips for example) and won't actually cause harm. Make sure kids are reminded to pick up the foam bullets so not to harm nature and make sure they know the rule above about playing with only consenting kids in a way not meant to truly cause harm.
